NEW YORK – “I’m very upset that he’s quitting,” Joan Rivers said in lauding Regis Philbin who announced Tuesday that he will step down from his daytime talk show hosting duties after a quarter-century.

“He’s the one who started the morning chat,” she told the New York Post. "Everyone has a morning chat now. But Regis was the first one to open the paper and do it. He changed what a daytime show looked like.”

Rivers also suggested Philbin may be calling it quits too early at 70. “He should look at Betty White!” she said. “She could have been a cougar with him!”

Donald Trump, a close friend of Philbin’s, told the Post that he respects the decision. “There’s something very cool about what he’s doing,” Trump said. “It’s called leaving on top.”

Rivers and Trump join Philbin co-host Kelly Ripa and others who have chimed in on the broadcast veteran's planned departure in late summer.

The Post also mentioned additional names of potential replacements for Philbin. Insiders have mentioned Sam Champion of Good Morning America, 20/20 co-anchor Chris Cuomo, as well as Ripa's former All My Children co-stars Josh Duhamel and Cameron Mathison, the paper said.